A doctor who was found guilty of sexually assaulting some of his patients over several years was sentenced in a Manitoba court on Thursday.

Arcel Bissonnette was sentenced to 12 years in prison by Justice Sadie Bond in the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench. He was found guilty of five charges of sexual assault following a trial last year.

The assaults took place between 2001 and 2017 when Bissonnette was working as a family doctor at the Ste. Anne Hospital and the Seine Medical Centre.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say your have scarred your victims perhaps for life,” Bond said.